Nobel Peace Prize winner to give lecture

Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel will give the third annual Shapiro Distinguished Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 in the UT Student Union Auditorium on Main Campus.

Elie Wiesel

According to a news release, his talk is titled “What the Ancient Masters Can Teach Us About Confronting Fanaticism and Building Moral Unity in a Diverse Society.”

Wiesel is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, author and political activist.

At age 14, he was deported to Auschwitz during World War II and spent a year in German concentration camps. His book, Night, chronicles his experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. His fictional books, Dawn and Day, detail life after the concentration camps, in Israel and the United States. In addition, he has written more than 50 fiction and nonfiction books.

From 1978 to 1986, Wiesel served as chair of the Presidential Commission on the Holocaust, which became the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. In that role, he led the building of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking out against violence, repression and racism. In 1985, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and in 1996 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

He lives in New York City and is the Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Boston University.

The Edward Shapiro Distinguished Lecture series was established to bring noted scholars in the arts, sciences and humanities to The University of Toledo. The series is named in memory of Dr. Edward Shapiro, UT alumnus and economics professor for 22 years in the College of Arts and Sciences, who donated more the $4 million to the college during his lifetime.

No tickets are needed for the free, public presentation. Doors will open at 7 p.m. with overflow seating available.

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on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Lectures.
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